How much did semiconductor revenue grow by last year?

Worldwide semiconductor revenue hit the $315bn mark last year, recording a 5% increase compared to the 2012 revenue, according to a report from Gartner.

The analyst firm said the combined revenue of the top 25 semiconductor vendors increased 6.9% during the year.

Intel led the market with 15.4% share of the total semiconductor revenue despite a 1% decline, followed by Samsung with a 9.7% share and a 7.1% year-over-year increase in revenue.

Gartner research vice president Andrew Norwood said after a weak start to 2013 due to excess inventory, revenue growth strengthened during the second and third quarters before leveling off during the fourth quarter.

"Memory, and in particular DRAM, led this growth; not due to strong demand, but rather weak supply growth that pushed pricing higher," Norwood added.

"In fact, the overall market faced a number of demand headwinds during the year, with PC production declining 9.9 percent and the premium smartphone market showing signs of saturation as growth tilted toward lower-priced, albeit quite capable, entry-level and midrange smartphone models."

Qualcomm and SK Hynix occupied third and fourth positions with revenue growth of 30.6% and 40.8% respectively.